The Universal Society of Hinduism is asking PAX organizers to keep Smite out of the convention.

Hi-Rez Studios' Smite is a multiplayer fighting game featuring gods from various pantheons going at each other in divine, one-on-one combat. It won't actually be out for awhile yet, but in the meantime the Hi-Rez guys are making the rounds of various gaming conventions, drumming up publicity while giving gamers a chance to try it out.

The game isn't going over very well with Hindus, however, thanks to the presence of Hindu deities Kali, Vamana and Agni as playable characters. Rajan Zed, the head of the Universal Society of Hinduism, asked Hi-Rez in June to remove the Hindu characters from the game and then, when that went nowhere, called on QuakeCon to drop it from the lineup, which also went ignored. But he's keeping up the fight, and has now asked organizers to keep the game from being played or distributed at this weekend's PAX Prime.

Hi-Rez will reportedly have Smite playable on 50 stations at PAX, Zed said in a statement, and will be offering it for sale at "promotional pricing." But as one of the largest gaming events in North America, with a number of very high-profile sponsors, Zed said that PAX "should show responsibility and respect the feelings of upset Hindus."

"Goddess Kali and other Hindu deities were meant to be worshiped in temples and home shrines and not meant to be reduced to just a 'character' in a video game to be used in combat in the virtual battleground," he said. "Videogame makers should be more sensitive while handling faith related subjects, as these games left lasting impact on the minds of highly impressionable children, teens and other young people."

It's understandable that Zed wouldn't really be down with the whole "gaming culture" thing, but the odds of PAX keeping a game off the floor out of sensitivity to cultural issues are very long indeed. Far more likely is that we'll end up with PAX apparel covered in images of Kali sporting four dicks instead of four arms.

I think they are looking at it too narrowly. It's a great way for people who know nothing of Hindu worship to see/learn a little about their gods. From what I hear, the game isn't just using gods for the hell of it, they are making sure the characters abilities relate to who/what that god actually is.

The Plunk:I trust the Penny Arcade guys to stand up to these enemies of free speech.

Darkgoosey666:If anyone is offended by the game, they shouldnt buy it. Simples. Trying to deprive others the experience of playing the game aint cool at all.

Free speech works all ways. A private organization asking another private organization to restrict a product at a private convention is a thing we should all be fine with.

That being said, these guys obviously know nothing about the Penny Arcade guys, and this is just going to further the Streisand Effect they already started back in June (seriously, how many people would know about this game if it weren't for the USH pushing against it?) And I wouldn't put it past PA to feature Smite now out of pure spite.

Is it me or maybe, just maybe, some Hinduists are losing focus here.I understand defending your beliefs, however they ought to understand that it is NOT their deity on screen. It's a character with a cool name.

The Plunk:I trust the Penny Arcade guys to stand up to these enemies of free speech.

Darkgoosey666:If anyone is offended by the game, they shouldnt buy it. Simples. Trying to deprive others the experience of playing the game aint cool at all.

Free speech works all ways. A private organization asking another private organization to restrict a product at a private convention is a thing we should all be fine with.

That being said, these guys obviously know nothing about the Penny Arcade guys, and this is just going to further the Streisand Effect they already started back in June (seriously, how many people would know about this game if it weren't for the USH pushing against it?) And I wouldn't put it past PA to feature Smite now out of pure spite.

Yes, yes it does. The only issue is when the people shouting to have things banned, removed, or otherwise barred from being available are large or powerful enough to force the issue. For example, being able to start a big enough stink over, say, a Kickstarter project to have it cancelled despite being initially approved and well past the funding mark because it offends your sensibilities.

If the Universal Society for Hinduism had enough influence that the convention center would shut PAX down if they didn't remove SMITE, then it would be a different story. I'm personally fine with you saying what you please right up to the point where you are using that ability to shut other people up. Something that's also something of a hot button for PA, which was what caused the whole dickwolves thing to spiral out of control the way it did.

Azuaron:(seriously, how many people would know about this game if it weren't for the USH pushing against it?)

This. So much this. If it weren't for them pushing against it, I never would have heard of the game. At the rate this is going, I may pick it up just out of curiosity since this is like the fifth time this has come up.

The Plunk:I trust the Penny Arcade guys to stand up to these enemies of free speech.

Darkgoosey666:If anyone is offended by the game, they shouldnt buy it. Simples. Trying to deprive others the experience of playing the game aint cool at all.

Free speech works all ways. A private organization asking another private organization to restrict a product at a private convention is a thing we should all be fine with.

That being said, these guys obviously know nothing about the Penny Arcade guys, and this is just going to further the Streisand Effect they already started back in June (seriously, how many people would know about this game if it weren't for the USH pushing against it?) And I wouldn't put it past PA to feature Smite now out of pure spite.

Yes, yes it does. The only issue is when the people shouting to have things banned, removed, or otherwise barred from being available are large or powerful enough to force the issue. For example, being able to start a big enough stink over, say, a Kickstarter project to have it cancelled despite being initially approved and well past the funding mark because it offends your sensibilities.

If the Universal Society for Hinduism had enough influence that the convention center would shut PAX down if they didn't remove SMITE, then it would be a different story. I'm personally fine with you saying what you please right up to the point where you are using that ability to shut other people up. Something that's also something of a hot button for PA, which was what caused the whole dickwolves thing to spiral out of control the way it did.

If you're talking about the tentacle rape game, I don't remember that being an "organization" opposing it so much as lots and lots of individuals, which is also a thing we should be perfectly fine with (businesses--and Kickstarter is a business--should listen to their customers regarding what products and services should be approved/yanked; quite frankly, given what I know about the Kickstarter review process, I'm surprised it was approved initially).

But I do agree that once you get to threatening/buying out people/companies you've gone too far. Asking is one thing, corporate war quite another.

The Plunk:I trust the Penny Arcade guys to stand up to these enemies of free speech.

still no characters from the Abrahamic religions i see.

why is that exactly ?..

oh yes...they are shitebags.

still /golfcalp in the name of "freedom of speech" eh ?..

especially when its quite clear they won't actually dare offend anyone who might actually be able to mess with them in return.

cowards.

Jesus could make an awesome Melee/Support if done right (set him up like a melee version of Hel, call the stance changes "Prince of Peace" and "I Bring Not Peace, But a Sword". Yahweh is OP, being invisible and all though. Since none of the Jewish or Muslim prophets are accused of being divine, it's kind of hard to use one of them as a "god" unless you think Mohammed and Moses could beat of Odin and Ra...

I care as much about this offending Hindus as I do about depictions of Muhammad offending Muslims, or South Park offending anyone or anything. If your offended don't buy it, whining will get you nothing but more publicity for the other guy.

If I remember with Resistance, continuing complaints from religious groups only sparked up interest for buying the game, mainly because the issue at hand wasn't nearly as offensive as said group made it out to be.

I object to there objections not only because of free speech which allows the developers to do this and they should not be forced to censor it (I don't think that means that the Hindu groups can't complain either, they have rights as well but I don't think they should try to force censorship and instead try to convince the developer this is offensive and they should change it out of respect for the religion, not financial reasons.) but also because of the way they have chosen to object to this. They claim offence from using there gods with no concern for people who still follow the Norse or Greek faiths (However few there may be.). If a came about gods is offensive why only tell them to remove your gods? What makes Kali any more of a degrading character than Thor or Zeus?

The Plunk:I trust the Penny Arcade guys to stand up to these enemies of free speech.

still no characters from the Abrahamic religions i see.

why is that exactly ?..

oh yes...they are shitebags.

still /golfcalp in the name of "freedom of speech" eh ?..

especially when its quite clear they won't actually dare offend anyone who might actually be able to mess with them in return.

cowards.

Their job is not to include all the religions you've taken up a personal beef with. You might have noticed that Hindu deities are rather interesting looking, whilst anyone important in Christianity, Judaism and Islam is a bloke with a beard. So yeah, no shit they're not included.

Woodsey:Their job is not to include all the religions you've taken up a personal beef with. You might have noticed that Hindu deities are rather interesting looking, whilst anyone important in Christianity, Judaism and Islam is a bloke with a beard. So yeah, no shit they're not included.

This is exactly why I have no interest in those religions being included. They're all people with a beard, a robe, and a staff. That's boring.

Woodsey:Their job is not to include all the religions you've taken up a personal beef with. You might have noticed that Hindu deities are rather interesting looking, whilst anyone important in Christianity, Judaism and Islam is a bloke with a beard. So yeah, no shit they're not included.

This is exactly why I have no interest in those religions being included. They're all people with a beard, a robe, and a staff. That's boring.

Arguably, but the Greek and Norse gods are certainly more exotic then Jesus. All the other religions included seem to be ones with pantheons of gods, as well.

They're offended? So what. It's a game. Are they trying to accurately depict your magical being that has no proof of existance? No? Then cry harder, because this is the real world, and those characters have every right to be in this game because not only are they fictional, they're also not owned by anyone, so it's not a problem. Disagreeing with their right to put them in the game just makes you scum who wants to keep speech limited to what you want the ignorant to hear. Sounds familiar... oh yeah:

Andy Chalk:"Videogame makers should be more sensitive while handling faith related subjects, as these games left lasting impact on the minds of highly impressionable children, teens and other young people."

...and how is religion different? Have fun teaching young people to continue to be closed minded believers of something whose existance in stted in a book that is in no way different than a fairy tale so they act the way you want them to.

Woodsey:Arguably, but the Greek and Norse gods are certainly more exotic then Jesus. All the other religions included seem to be ones with pantheons of gods, as well.

All of the Norse and Greek gods also have a theme. Thor has thunder and his hammer. Ares is a paragon of War. The theme with Jesus is "hey, I'm the son of god...yeah, I got a robe and shit". I just can't see that as interesting.

Woodsey:Arguably, but the Greek and Norse gods are certainly more exotic then Jesus. All the other religions included seem to be ones with pantheons of gods, as well.

All of the Norse and Greek gods also have a theme. Thor has thunder and his hammer. Ares is a paragon of War. The theme with Jesus is "hey, I'm the son of god...yeah, I got a robe and shit". I just can't see that as interesting.

Had a brain-malfunction, thought you said 'That's why the other religions included don't interest me', might be why my reply looks a little weird.

To be fair to the Hindi's, they the only modern major religion who have deities in Smite, not sure if the asian ones are still worshipped, but for the love of god (no pun intended) just get over it, people stopped taking Kali seriously when Indianna Jones: Temple of Doom came out.